Sign the Papers Mr. Langford novel Chapter 171

It was completely different from the photo in the old archives.

In this picture, Vivian Vance had her hand resting on the equipment's control console, standing next to a whiteboard.

Faint handwriting was visible on the board.

Project Morning Star.

Pre-clinical testing.

Escrowed Authorization.

Wren Whitaker stared fixedly at those last two words.

Escrowed Authorization.

Temporary storage, again.

Julian York frowned slightly. "That's not the phrasing you use for a donation."

Phoebe Price immediately lifted her phone and snapped a picture of the screen. "We need a copy of this."

The staff member looked torn. "I would need Mr. Clarke's approval for that."

"Go ask him," Wren said.

The staff member hurried out of the room.

Only a few people remained in The Records Room.

Wren didn't say a word.

She rested her fingers on the edge of the desk, pressing down until her knuckles turned pale.

Since her mother passed away, she had heard countless narratives about Vivian Vance.

Quentin Whitaker claimed she was in poor health and possessed a stubborn streak.

Lydia Whitaker insisted she was too ambitious, and that overly ambitious women were destined to suffer.

Even Eleanor Langford would casually remark, "Your mother certainly had some skills back in the day, but she's gone now. There's no use digging up the past."

Everyone painted Vivian as a relic of history.

A sick wife, a deceased mother, a name best left unspoken.

But the Vivian in this photo was none of those things.

Standing in front of the machinery with clear, determined eyes, her hand resting on the system console, she was backed by a testing project that hadn't yet been rebranded as a charitable endeavor.

She wasn't just someone's "past."

She was an active part of the project.

Perhaps even the most critical part.

Wren felt an overwhelming need to know exactly what her mother had endured all those years ago.

More than that, she needed to know what role Quentin had played in it all.

He hadn't expected to see that photo on the monitor.

Project Morning Star.

Escrowed Authorization.

Jude thought back to the historical Langford Medical equipment files he had reviewed earlier that day.

Several document numbers had been missing.

One of them had a footnote that read: *System module source pending.*

Source pending.

Escrowed Authorization.

The two phrases collided in his mind.

He looked down and texted his assistant.

[Go to the archives and pull every purchasing, authorization, and transfer document related to Langford's old equipment lines and Project Morning Star Phase I. I specifically want the pages with Vivian Vance's signature.]

After sending the message, he didn't enter The Records Room.

Instead, he turned and headed back to the banquet hall.

On stage, Scott Clarke's speech was finally underway.